ROSSENDALE ran out comfortable winners in this Thwaites North Wet Three League fixture against opposition that has struggled for much of this season.

Together with defeat for Warrington at the hands of Rochdale, this means that the top of the table has opened up with Rochdale having a three point advantage over Rossendale who in turn have a similar margin over third placed Warrington.

Dale started somewhat slowly and showed a reluctance to work on the floor in difficult heavy conditions, but their scrummage and lineout work was of a high order, resulting in good first phase ball and good possession for the back division to work with.

The first score came from a Matt Corns penalty after some 20 minutes, followed by a Scott Cunliffe try made from good recycled possession and strong play from the back row forward. Corns converted and added another penalty before the break to make the interval score 13-0 to the visitors. The second period saw Rossendale much more in control, taking scrummage ball against the head at will, and possibly trying too hard at times to play fast, flowing rugby, when slower ball would probably have been more productive against today's opponents and condition. This resulted in three balls being knocked on over the try line with points a begging.

Sandbach were first on the board via a penalty before Richard Horrocks added to his tally from a well-worked set piece. The game was taken out of Sandbach's reach when substitute Dave Connolly who had a good game at number eight, replacing the luckless Simon Bond who unfortunately sustained a double fracture to the ankle, which will keep him out for some six weeks, scored a pushover try just to underline the pack's dominance. Corns converted before Scott's brother Jason Cunliffe finished off the game with a late try.

Corns showed some flashes of trickery and pace and Askew had a very solid game on the wing, the front row were very much in the ascendancy and Gary Clement won man of the match for his lineout work, just ahead of another fine performance from Scott Cunliffe, who along with his back-row partners started uncharacteristically slowly today, but went on to totally run the show.

A good away win which could prove to be the last game of the century for Rossendale unless the weather changes and allows this weekend's game, at home to Wallasey, to go ahead. Presumably Simon Bond would prefer a postponement and a January of the same ilk.

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